Building a '49 for myself

[tre5]

It took me under 4 hours to strip the truck down to a bare frame. I did it all by myself except for the guy in the shop next door ran the fork lift to get the cab off. Oh, and my kiddo came down to turn a screw driver.

[joedoh]

love the pre teardown burnout, only thing better is the no glass, no doors, no sheetmetal burnout! and I do the same thing, cut the driveshaft, keeps the trans from puking on the floor.

grille wing windows and lack of a drivers side fresh air vent say 1951. the GMC motor is worth a bit in parts, just the oil bath air cleaner is like $100 bucks. I'd keep the moustache GMC front end if it were me, but you wont have any trouble finding a buyer for the parts! I could use a turn signal!

[tre5]

It's titled as a '49, so that's what I'll call it, lol. I tried to get rid of the original engine and trans when I tore it all down, but no takers so it went off to scrap. I didn't have the air cleaner, but I did keep the valve cover. I also kept the grille and surround. I hung them on my back patio!
One of my buddies called me a lazy ass for cutting the drive shaft until I explained to him the same thing you said... It keeps the trans fluid from spilling out of the tail shaft, lol.
Turn signals are gone, sorry.

Originally Posted by joedoh

love the pre teardown burnout, only thing better is the no glass, no doors, no sheetmetal burnout! and I do the same thing, cut the driveshaft, keeps the trans from puking on the floor.

grille wing windows and lack of a drivers side fresh air vent say 1951. the GMC motor is worth a bit in parts, just the oil bath air cleaner is like $100 bucks. I'd keep the moustache GMC front end if it were me, but you wont have any trouble finding a buyer for the parts! I could use a turn signal!

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[solidaxel]

Truck with a title what a deal !!

[tre5]

I decided to go with Advance Design Engineering for my S10 frame swap. Check them out! http://www.ad-engineering.com
We have about 2 hours into getting this far on the kit. It's an awesome kit and goes in super easy!

[tre5]

Also picked out the interior colors. I'm headed to Ceballos Customs tomorrow to sit in my seat and make sure it's what I wanted. He's totally rebuilding the backing and foam for the stock seat frame.
I'm going with this Brandy color for most of the interior, and doing some black suede inserts so it matches the black carpet (I can't stand having light colored carpet and nothing matched the brandy color).

[tre5]

Oh, and the painter (a buddy of mine) I Kandy Paintworks had a photo shoot at his shop over the weekend. I stopped by to check it out (since I had 5 vehicles in there that I built or am still working on). Here's a photo I took of one of the girls in my truck bed.

[tre5]

Set the cab down on the S10 frame after installing the AD-Enginnering.com kit. Next up is the fun of aligning all the new front sheet metal.

[Advanced Design]

Looking good! Did you use the AD Engineering kit to save the fabrication time? Guessing so as no doubt you could certainly fab your own. You do very nice work and I appreciate you sharing.

[tre5]

Anytime I can use a proven part that already had the r&d done, I will. It saves me a ton of time!
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[solidaxel]

Tell me how much time you spend aligning the front sheet metal and hood

[tre5]

Lol. I'm sure it'll be a fun time... Sarcasm
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[84blaze]

With this kit do the bottom of the running boards sit flush with the bottom of the frame?

Id consider this kit if they're flush as I want to lay frame/running board on mine.

[tre5]

Some more progress photos...
Smooth firewall

narrowing the axle

welding up my axle mounts

setting up the axle and 4 link brackets

A couple close ups

[tre5]

Originally Posted by 84blaze

With this kit do the bottom of the running boards sit flush with the bottom of the frame?

Id consider this kit if they're flush as I want to lay frame/running board on mine.

No. The running boards are above the bottom of the frame. Makes the installation for the average customer much easier. No cab floor mods for engine, trans, or drive line. No mods to the bed floor either.

[tre5]

I got my seat back from Ceballos Custom Upholstery in Tempe, AZ

[Advanced Design]

Nice work on the axle mounts. Love those welds...fluid and smooth...art!

[joedoh]

clean!

[solidaxel]

Did you fab the 4 bar brackets?

[tre5]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Did you fab the 4 bar brackets?

Yes, that's what the photo of the welds is.
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[tre5]

Here's another photo of the 4 link and coil over mounts. All the unwelded pieces are what make the welded piece.

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[solidaxel]

Got it ! Tre5
Nice design, I like them !

[BIGglaSS]

I like the bed sills and brackets. I'm going to have to do something similar. Nice welds! What's the secret to get your welds to look like that? When I try to run a pass more than an inch at a time, it twists up like a pretzel.

[tre5]

The bed cross members are part of the AD-Engineering.com kit for the S10 chassis swap.
No secret really. I weld everyday and have consistently for years. The more time you have behind the mask, the better you become. I still have a long way to go too. Some pointers though... First and most importantly, know your machine. Make sure you have a good one! Miller, Lincoln, etc. Stay away from the cheapo ones. Once you have a good machine, learn the settings and use the suggested settings as suggestions only. Tune it in to your liking because you're not always going to weld 1/8" or 1/4". You're going to weld 1/8" to 1/4" sometimes and there's no suggestion for that on the machine, lol. Second, prep! Fit your parts together so you have a nice joint. Any time you're butt welding, chamfer the edges because it gives the weld somewhere to go. Always clean your surfaces before welding. The better the fit and the cleaner the material, the better the weld will look. Last tip, technique. There's different techniques for different joints. Study those and experiment which way works best for you. One thing I always do on longer welds is a "dry run". I run the welder along the line I'm about to weld in order to make sure my hand and arm positioning works through the length of the weld.

Originally Posted by BIGglaSS

I like the bed sills and brackets. I'm going to have to do something similar. Nice welds! What's the secret to get your welds to look like that? When I try to run a pass more than an inch at a time, it twists up like a pretzel.

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[84blaze]

Originally Posted by tre5

No. The running boards are above the bottom of the frame. Makes the installation for the average customer much easier. No cab floor mods for engine, trans, or drive line. No mods to the bed floor either.

Any chance you could post a photo of how far above the frame they are?